PEGAS Results 2008

December is the time to summarize the results of the company work for the year. What happened with the PEGAS ™ draft beer bottle-fillers during this time? PEGAS Product Manager, Mr. Evgeniy Trifonov, tells about the reasons for being proud and problems that had to be solved by the PEGAS producer, the Novosibirskprodmash Company.

- Evgeniy, how do you evaluate the company’s work in 2008 if we speak about PEGAS ™ products?

- Talking about PEGAS ™ systems, the company’s one of the main fields of activity, Year 2008 has become the year of New Products. In 2008 we launched the PEGAS NovoTap draft beer bottle-filler into the market. We wanted to make the PEGAS NovoTap system the product that will solve all problems existing in the segment of take-out draft beer sales. Besides, we did our best to make the PEGAS NovoTap as affordable as possible. This is exactly what we managed to achieve. In October, 2008, we launched the PEGAS NovoTap manual PET-bottle fillers into the market with the optimal price-quality ratio. Besides, we have been working at the design of three more new systems PEGAS ™. First, this is the PEGAS GTap, system that provides fast and foam-free filling of glasses with beer at “on-trade” points of sales. Secondly, it is the PEGAS CrafTap meant for filling beer from kegs into glass bottles and designed specially for the countries where consumers traditionally prefer beer in glass bottles. Thirdly, it is the PEGAS Dragon. This is a beer tower designed for convenient mounting of the PEGAS ™ beer filling systems. We exhibited all these products at the international trade shows where they arouse considerable interest from the part of brewing community.

- Do you accept orders for the development and design of certain equipment?

- It would be right to say that we receive improvement suggestions for the original PEGAS (model 2004) device. We eagerly collect this information from our customers and make a decision on what to do next. Anyway, if we see that there is a certain demand on any modification of PEGAS ™ products, we will design it.

- It’s great to have ideas, but it is important to have resources to implement them.

- Absolutely. We have passed the way from an idea to the product launch several times. We know how to implement our ideas. Now our knowledge and experience allow us to design new products and improve the products that we have much faster.

- What problems do you have to solve in the process of new product development?

- This year we encountered the problem of standards of beer equipment. In different countries and sometimes even within one country there exist different standards of connecting elements of beer equipment. So, we had to adapt our systems to the markets where we see a big potential for our products.

- Today many companies report decline in sales due to the global financial crisis. What can you say about your company?

- In general, PEGAS sales corresponded to our sales plans in Russia and CIS countries. Sales growth was a bit lower than we expected and we indeed think that it was an impact of financial crisis that broke out in autumn. At that time sales rate really hindered. It happened because our dealers stopped buying new beer dispensing equipment as they did not know what to expect in the future. However, there was no decline in demand for draft beer, vice versa, draft beer points of sales continue to thrive. As a result, in December we saw a boom of PEGAS sales.

- What are the sales plans for the coming year?

- It is a pity, but now due to the impact of global financial crisis we cannot set more or less exact sales plans. In previous years we produced definite quantity of bottle-fillers expecting a definite sales growth. Now we can say for sure that there won’t be decline in demand. But we cannot say for sure what sales growth we can expect. And it will impact production plans. There is a chance that one day demand will exceed supply and this will lead to product shortage. In this situation we rely on our dealers who constantly interact with PEGAS end-consumers and that is why can inform us about their PEGAS purchase plans long before.

- Why do you think there won’t be decline in demand?

- First of all, marketing data show that since autumn 2008 people started to drink more draft beer and do it more often. We believe that this is due to the fact that take-out draft beer is cheaper for consumers than bottled beer. Secondly, businesspeople from other segments that experienced most negative impact of global financial crisis started to look at other segments that appeared to be more stable and stay attractive in a new environment. It turned out that draft beer stores is one of such segments. Thirdly, breweries started to look for new distribution channels for their products. Now they consider take-out draft beer sales as an efficient and profitable way of selling their products. It means that breweries themselves will stimulate the development of take-away draft beer sales.

- You said that in December 2008 you observed a surge in demand for PEGAS beer filling systems? How did it influence on shipping?

- In 2008 we responded to all orders very quickly, practically always the same business day. However, in December we had some delays in shipments, but we tried hard to ship all orders as quickly as possible.

- Let’s get back to the new products. This year, as you mentioned, you launched PEGAS NovoTap. What is customer attitude to it?

- Russian businessmen are still observing it. Firstly, because the original PEGAS model has a good reputation even in spite of its drawbacks. It proved to be a real workhorse that does not ask for considerable investments. Secondly, because PEGAS end-consumers as well as our dealers have not yet compared the quality of the two models, but they see that a new model is more expensive. Undoubtedly, our customers will understand that the PEGAS NovoTap is more reliable and durable, that possession cost of this product is considerably lower, that the new model is easier in operation, etc. It just takes time. Anyway, we expect that in 2009 the PEGAS NovoTap will have not less than 30 % share in total sales volume. I would like to point out that the PEGAS NovoTap is aimed at businesspeople who focus on the development of their businesses and understand that any business asks for investments. Such people understand that price increase for the whole set of beer dispensing equipment will be not that big, but the quality of this set will be much higher. I also would like to point out that overseas customers prefer to buy the PEGAS NovoTap model.

- How was it manifested in sales structure?

Many PEGAS NovoTap systems were shipped to countries outside the former Soviet Union, such as USA, Czech Republic, Germany, UK, Singapore, New Zealand, etc.

- And could you share your plans for the future?

- We are sure that sales of PEGAS ™ products will grow. We will design modifications of the existing models and we will develop new products. We believe that our products will contribute to the development of our customers’ businesses and bring them more profits.

Source: Press Service of the Novosibirskprodmash Company.